


Tugging at your heartstrings

by Rangergirl3



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Holy shit did I just invent that tag?, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Matt Holt Whump, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Pidge | Katie Holt Whump, concussion, okay then
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-07 19:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19216426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangergirl3/pseuds/Rangergirl3
Summary: A rebel leader, a Paladin, and a Blade of Marmora barely manage to scramble into an escape pod. All of them are injured. One is probably concussed.Oh, and one of the remaining two is being mind-controlled by Narti and has a mission to complete.So...basically none of this is good.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by Glo-squid, for ‘Playing with Puppets’ with Pidge. Mind-control, the 'I know you're in there' fight with reassurance and caretaking to follow.

It's a credit to Olia's piloting skills that they make it out of the asteroid field at all. 

Somewhere in the recent chaos, Matt is fairly certain there was a major development that he needs to remember.

 _Hmm_.

Matt continues to frown up at the ceiling of the pod's transport section.

_Damn it. He needs to remember. It's **important**._

Then he realizes that for some reason, he's lying on the floor, not sitting in one of the seats along the wall that has perfectly functional safety harnesses.

In fact, no one is sitting in the seats.

_How strange._

Something near his left side lets out a muffled curse and sits up. It's Pidge. She's holding the side of her head like she has the mother of all migraines.

"...ow..." she says. Her helmet is missing. "Ow. Ow. _Ow_. I feel like a train just hit me."

Another voice speaks from somewhere nearby, he can't tell exactly where. 

"Not a - train. One of - Lotor's Generals. Knocked both you and Matt clear across the room with that - that tail thing."

Pidge's voice wobbles as she attempts nonchalence. 

"Y-you don't - s-say."

There's a brief silence. 

From what little Matt's brain can process coherently at the moment, Keith's reply seems genuinely confused.

"I just - I just did."

Matt thinks about rolling his eyes and making a sarcastic comment of his own, but he can't even do the first part. He's just stuck here, looking up at the ceiling and trying to remember what was so damn important only a minute ago.

* * *

Keith doesn't get her joke. 

_Typical._

She's about to try and explain how was a joke when pain spears through her head. 

She reacts without thinking, hiding her face and hunching her shoulders and opening her mouth to swear in one of the most colorful ways she knows how.

But instead of reaching up to cover her face, her hands fall at her sides, and she draws a knife from Matt's weapons belt. Instead of hunching inwards, she rises into a crouching position. Instead of letting out a string of inventive swear words, she bares her teeth at the two people near her.

She has just enough time to realize that something is using her body and voice like a puppet before her awareness vanishes completely, leaving only the puppet master behind.

_The mission must be completed._

* * *

From where he landed, nearest to the escape hatch doors, Keith _sees_ the switch happen. He's seen a lot in his time with the Blades, but that transformation might be the most terrifying one yet.

Pidge's eyes go flat and cold. Her usually expressive face turns into a empty mask, and her entire posture shifts so that she's ready to attack.

Keith draws his own blade and lunges forwards. He's only just in time to block the strike that would have killed Matt.

Whatever this is, it isn't Pidge. 

Something's controlling her, making her try and kill one of the leaders of the rebellion.

He can't let that happen.

Pidge only just found Matt again. Losing him would destroy her.

* * *

Matt can't really follow what's going on. The lights are too bright, and his ears are still ringing from that hit he and Pidge took right before Keith dragged/threw both of them into the escape pod before practically falling in himself.

One of Lotor's crazy ninja Generals had landed a hit with her - tail? - yeah, Matt was pretty sure it had been a tail. Narti was the one who had the tail, he was pretty sure. 

Sometimes it was difficult to keep track of which one had the tail and which one had the weird...head tentacle thingy.

_Oh, he is most definitely concussed._

Someone laughs. It's Pidge's voice, but it's not Pidge's laugh. 

_Something's wrong. Something's very wrong._

Then Matt remembers.

Narti can control minds.

All she has to do is touch you.

 _Pidge_.

There's a scream from somewhere nearby. It's so  _loud_ , and the lights are way too bright. Fumbling for his comms unit, Matt closes his eyes and activates his own personal emergency signal right before he slips back into unconsciousness. If Olia is able to set the ship to autopilot, she might be able to help Keith keep Katie from killing anyone.

But from the sounds of it, Katie might have already succeeded.

* * *

Even as Narti/Pidge's blade shattered against the luxite edge of Keith's knife, she'd snatched another one from Matt's belt and struck at the Red Paladin's eyes.

He dodges, quicker than his enemy expected, and managed to twist to one side, but the the razor sharp edge still connects, striking a deep gash across his right shoulder, reopening the injury he took during the Trials. The familiar, awful, tearing agony make Keith cry out just like he had the first time.

Somehow he manages to keep hold of his knife, but the thing controlling the Green Paladin doesn't even slow down. Narti/Pidge has already turned away from Keith and struck out at Matt's neck again.

Keith barely manages to knock the knife away from Matt's prone form a second time. The pain of the injury has already taken his breath away, and he's already exhausted from the battle that had come before. 

Then Narti/Pidge knife flashes again, and Keith's knife clatters to the floor, just beyond his reach. The face of his friend snarls in dark delight at how he can't stop her next assassination attempt, and she begins to turn back towards Matt.

Keith doesn't waste a second. He wraps his left hand around Pidge's right wrist, and he doesn't let go. His right arm is useless, and he's not close enough, or fast enough, to get between the knife and Matt, but maybe he doesn't have to fight Pidge. 

Maybe he just needs to talk to her.

* * *

"Pidge! Pidge, _stop_!"

To Keith's astonishment, Narti/Pidge does stop. Just for a second, her arm trembles in his grip, and Keith allows himself to hope.

"Pidge, listen, it's all right, okay? It's gonna be fine."

She looks over at Matt. Her fingers go slack, and the knife clatters to the ground. She stares over Keith's shoulder in horror, and the voice sounds like his friend, but -

"K-Keith?"

Keith doesn't slacken his grip on her wrist. He can't take any chances. Matt is still lying on the floor directly behind him. If that Narti General is able to reestablish control again - 

"-w-what's -"

He swallows, hating how scared she sounds, how confused. Pidge _never_ sounds like this.

"-what's going on - why is Matt - w-why are you - "

_No. He can't risk it._

"Pidge, listen, you're being mind controlled, but it's going to be okay, all right? It's going to be oka-"

Then she looks back up at him, and he has just enough time to see that the smile on her face is _nothing_  like Pidge's real smile before she plunges the knife deep into his back.

* * *

The Blade's uniform is not meant to turn aside sharp weapons at close quarters.

Narti/Pidge had only dropped the knife so that she could catch it with her other hand as it spun towards the ground. 

Strangely enough, the Blade doesn't scream when the knife plunges into his back. Not at first.

At first, he just stares at her, confused. Not scared. Just confused, like he did when the Green Paladin had made a joke he did not understand.

"...idge...? What...'re you..."

Narti/Pidge laughs. The sound cuts through the air like jagged glass.

* * *

At first, Keith can't understand what just happened.

_Had...Pidge...?_

But the smile told him the truth. 

_It had just been a trick._

He should have paid better attention to his instincts.

_Pidge had never regained control._

Someone's shouting nearby.

"Matt! Matt, come on, we need to move!"

Narti/Pidge's eyes dart over Keith's shoulder, that awful smile still stretched across her features. Even so, she speaks softly, so that only Keith can hear her.

"Already running, I see."

Almost lazily, she twists the knife deeper into the injury, and the _pain_ of it jolts Keith back into reality.

_He has to buy Olia time to get Matt to safety._

* * *

At first, he can only croak out his friend's name again. 

He doesn't even get that out before the knife twists once more, and he loses track of anything except the pain.

Narti tilts the Green Paladin's head to one side and uses her voice. 

"You really aren't good at lying, Red Paladin."

She yanks the knife free, and Keith can't help it. He _screams_.

"This one, though," Narti/Pidge's voice is far too darkly gleeful to sound anything like the real Katie Holt ever could.

Another slashing thrust, a breathless cry of pain as it inflicts another awful injury, this time across his chest.

"She's a _master_ at it."

Then the knife buries itself in his stomach, and the world tips over, and Keith finally falls with it. 

* * *

* * *

When he opens his eyes, the room is spinning, even though he's fallen onto his back.

"...ugh..."

There's an unfamiliar weight on his chest. Keith tries to roll onto his side, to take some of the pressure off of his injuries, but he can't move.

_Why...why can't he move..?_

Then someone leans down and pats the side of Keith’s face in a mockingly affectionate gesture. He tries to flinch away from the contact, but whoever this is seizes hold of his hair and twists his neck, forcing him to look back up at her. 

"Look, everyone. He's awake."

It's Pidge-

 _No._  

Her eyes are still cold and empty.

It's the thing _using_ Pidge.

She's sitting on his chest, using her weight to pin him against the floor.

_...why...?_

The answer comes when she forces him to raise his chin up higher, and he catches sight of Olia on the other side of the room. The pilot is crouching protectively in front of Matt's unconscious form.

Oh.

A standoff. 

_Great._

* * *

"Your plan has already failed," Olia says. For some reason, she's looking at Keith when she says it. "This ship will land at the Castle in moments. The other Paladins will take action."

Narti/Pidge nods sanctimoniously.

"Yes. They _will_."

_Wait. What?_

Narti/Pidge shifts her weight, and Keith lets out a strangled snarl of agony as one of her knees dig deeper into his injured shoulder.

"Hear that?"

Narti/Pidge shakes her head sorrowfully.

"He's still dangerous. We should keep him like this until we get back to the Castle."

_...what's going on...?_

Now out of sight, Olia lets out a distracted hum of thoughtful agreement.

"We'll be there soon. Princess Allura will know what to do."

* * *

_...Allura...?_

But that means -

_"You really aren't good at lying, Red Paladin."_

Keith's blood goes cold.

_"This one, though."_

Oh, no.

_'She's a **master** at it.'_

Narti/Pidge has told Olia that Keith had been the one trying to kill Matt.

* * *

Narti/Pidge smiles down at the Red Paladin, patting the side of his face again. It's only right that she do so. After all, he's made her job _so_ much easier.

Once she gets to the Castle, she can kill everyone on it, and then - well. _Everyone_ trusts a Paladin of Voltron. Given enough time, she can take down the rebel army. As for the Blades - after this, no one will trust them. 

Divide and conquer.

It may be an old strategy, but it works _so_ well.

All she has to do now is kill the rebel leader and the pilot, and arrive dramatically at the Castle with a very cut up (and very _dead_ ) Blade who had  _clearly_  killed everyone under the influence of Lotor's most loyal General.

Narti/Pidge turns back towards the knife, still buried in Keith's stomach. She’ll need to retrieve the weapon to finish her mission.

She wraps her fingers around the blood stained hilt and begins to pull it free - but the stubborn Blade won’t let her.

Keith has reached up, and with his left hand, he grips Pidge’s wrist, keeping it still.

"Pidge," he croaks. "Pidge, please - don't d-do this."

* * *

From across the room, Olia frowns. 

This doesn't make any sense. 

Unless-

Oh, _quiznak_.

Slowly, silently, Olia reaches around a corner and begins loading a tranquilizer dart into her rifle. She can't attract any attention to herself, and she has to get it right on the first try. Failure will mean death. 

* * *

* * *

Keith doesn't know how much time they have left before they arrive at the Castle, but he **_has_** to break through whatever mind control his friend is under before they get there.

"-idge," he rasps. "Pidge - _please_ \- don't do this -"

God, it hurts to talk. Even with the adrenaline flooding his system, it's all he can do to remain conscious.

Pidge's golden eyes are so _empty_. It's terrifying. 

"- fight it - p-please - "

The blood tastes like copper. It scares him, it always does, but he keeps talking.

 _He **has** to make it through to her_. 

"-'re in - there - I know - y-you are -"

He _sees_ the pretense at normalcy shatter, even though everything about the Green Paladin's form remains the same.

The thing pretending to be his friend slams the back of Keith's head hard against the floor, snarling, and the face twists into an expression that is much, much worse than the worst monster Keith could ever have imagined.

" _Why won't you just shut up and **die**?!_"

* * *

The hatred in Pidge's eyes and in her voice is straight out of Keith's worst nightmares.

He almost wishes he were dead.

_It hurts too much. It always hurts too much._

But Keith can't give up on her.

_She would never give up on him._

His vision's blurry. He can’t even get enough air into his lungs, but tries to meet her gaze.

"-'s -'re - m-my - f-fr-"

Narti/Pidge snarls and twists the knife once more, and Keith breaks off.

_It hurts. It hurts so **much**. _

But he has to tell her the truth.

"-'re my...friend..."

The awful pain lessens, and a muscle twitches in Pidge's jaw. Something shifts in her posture, in the way her eyes come into focus. 

_She heard him._

"Keith?"

He tries to grin back up at her, but he can't even keep his eyes open anymore.

That's okay.

_She **heard**  him._

* * *

 

Then Olia fires the tranquilzer gun, and she doesn't miss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reassurance and care-taking, as promised <3

When Pidge opens her eyes, she finds that Olia - Matt's friend - has a rifle pointed right at her nose.

_Okay, then._

_That was new._

"Um. Hey. What did I do?"

Olia's eyes are narrowed into suspicious slits.

"You tell me. _Narti_."

The name is familiar, but Pidge doesn't know why.

"Uh, I'm Pidge? Katie, actually, but Matt calls me Pidge."

Something in the back of her mind resurfaces. 

_Running towards the escape pod. Movement nearby. Something slamming hard into her shoulder, catapulting her across the room. Matt, coming out of nowhere to come between her and the wall._

_Her helmet, skittering across the floor. Something tall with purple skin reaching down to_ -

Pidge sits up in terror.

"Narti attacked us! Olia, is Matt okay? Narti was there - she - "

Olia's gun doesn't waver.

"She took control of you, Pidge. We didn't know until we'd taken off."

Pidge's stomach drops away. She feels disconnected from her body.

"-w-what?"

* * *

The pilot's eyes flick to one side, then return to Pidge's face.

"You - you only just woke up. We're about to land in the Castle's bay. I've radioed the other Paladins."

Pidge nods. She feels numb.

"-am I - am I still - "

Olia's gaze doesn't soften, exactly, but her voice isn't as flat as it was a moment before.

"I don't think so, but Allura will check. Just to make sure. For now, I'm going to have to ask you to stay right there."

Pidge nods again. That makes sense.

"Sure. Yeah. Okay."

Then she blinks.

"Wait. How did you know that Narti was controlling me, after - after the pod took off? The last thing I remember is Matt saying that it was a good thing you were piloting us through the asteroid field, and not him."

Olia's jaw goes tight.

"You attacked - the others, shortly after we got out of the asteroid field. They warned me, and...I stopped you."

Pidge's heart goes cold.

"Did I - are - are th-they-"

Olia's eyes are sad.

"Matt's fine. Keith is..."

An isolated image flashes through Pidge's brain. 

 _She's holding a knife - and t_ _hen -_

Pidge opens her mouth and _screams_.

* * *

* * *

Someone lets out a shriek of horror nearby. It sounds as if they’re being torn into pieces.

For once, Keith knows it can’t be him making the noise. He can’t get enough air into his lungs to do anything except wheeze for air that just won’t come.

_He'd told Pidge that she was his friend._

_She'd heard him._

But then, his world had shrunk until all he knew was pain.

_It hurt. It hurt so much._

He wants to get up, to move, to see if Pidge and Matt and Olia are okay, but he can’t even lift his head off the floor. 

From where the scream from a few moments ago, now there are raised voices, _harsh_ and _loud_ and _scared_ and it makes the pain behind his eyes so much worse.

_Please, stop, **please**._

Then the floor of the shuttle judders, and Keith hopes that means they've landed in the Castle. He'd do anything to get away from the noise and the light and the horrible ache behind his eyes.

Then the doors behind him hiss open, and there are footsteps, and more voices, and he can still hear Katie, but she's crying and he doesn't know _why_.

_Matt...is...safe...isn't he?_

Then someone's shouting for a stretcher, and Keith finds himself wondering who needs a stretcher.

Oh, right. He probably does.

_Stupid blood loss._

* * *

* * *

"Allura, please -   just let me talk to him - _please_ -"

_If Keith dies, she'll never forgive herself._

"Pidge, I'm sorry, there's no time. We have to get him to the healing po-"

Katie Holt wrests her arm away from the Princess of Altea and scrambles over to where Lance and Hunk are just about to lift Keith onto a stretcher. His eyes are still closed, and he hasn't moved at all since she woke up.

"Keith - I'm sorry - I'm so sorry -"

At the sound of her voice, he opens one eye, but he doesn't focus on her. Even so, she thinks she hears him answer her.

"...'s...okay..."

_But there's so much blood on the floor - how could it **ever** be okay?_

Pidge doesn't know what to say, but then another frozen instant flashes through her mind, and she remembers what Keith had told her.

_He'd told her that she was his friend._

She reaches out and grabs his left hand.

"You're - you're a good friend, Keith -"

A smile flickers across his face at that. It's there and gone in an instant, but it lets her know that it's going to be okay.

 _They're_ going to be okay.

Then Coran is pulling her away, and Pidge breaks down.

* * *

* * *

A week later, Keith is (finally) allowed to return to normal levels of activity. He immediately goes to find Pidge.

A few hours later,Matt wanders into the lounge to find Pidge sitting on the floor near one end of a large, soft couch. She's leaning against one end of it, typing away into her computer.

Keith is lying on the couch, reading a book. He yawns and tosses the book towards a side table. It misses and lands near Pidge's foot.

"Trying to knock me out, huh?" She asks, not taking her eyes from the screen.

Keith snorts. "Please. Like a book would knock you out."

She rolls her eyes.

"War and Peace would."

Keith yawns again.

"War and Peace would knock _anyone_ out."

She glances up behind her at him. 

"Even you?"

Keith raises his eyebrow. 

"I'm part-Galra. I'm immune to Russian literature."

Katie grins.

"Hmm. That might be true."

Keith rolls onto his side, his back facing her.

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep."

Then Pidge's computer lets out a trilling beeping tone, and her eyes light up behind her glasses. She reaches up and slaps around absently until she makes contact with Keith's shoulder.

He turns around, grumpy. 

" _What_?"

She points to her screen. 

"Look. I can make the curser dance!"

Keith looks at the screen, and then at her.

"And that's....?"

Katie grins mischeviously up at him.

"It's fun!"

Keith sighs, but Matt senses that the Red Paladin is pleased. 

"Okay. Yeah, that's fun."

Then Keith settles down on the couch and gets comfortable again.

"Let me know if you figure out how to have it do the foxtrot."

Pidge grins, cracking her knuckles.

"Challenge accepted."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! <3

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos and comments are super awesome and always make my day! Incoherent screaming is also totally cool. I often do it myself ;-)
> 
> I’m also on Tumbr under the same username. Come say hi! <3


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